Buena Vista Wildlife Area

Buena Vista Wildlife Area is a 12,700-acre property located in southwestern Portage County. Buena Vista Wildlife Area consists of scattered parcels 10 miles east of Wisconsin Rapids and 4 miles south of Plover. The area is predominately grassland with some woodland.

Property history

This area was formerly a marsh dominated by tamarack, black spruce and cattails. In the early 1900's it was drained for agricultural purposes. In the mid 1950's a successful partnership between the department, Dane County Conservation League and Society of Tympanuchus Cupido Pinnatus was created to purchase land specifically for management of grassland habitat for the greater prairie chicken (a state threatened species in Wisconsin) and other grassland dependent species. It is home to the largest concentration of greater prairie chickens in Wisconsin and represents one of the most extensive grasslands east of the Mississippi River. The property harbors a healthy population of other important grassland bird species that include: Henslow sparrows (state threatened species), short-eared owls, upland sandpipers, northern harriers, bobolinks and eastern and western meadowlarks to name a few.

Management objective

Prescribed burning, managed grazing, small scale sharecrop farming, mowing of woody vegetation, herbiciding of woody vegetation and invasive plant control are all management activities used to keep the site in an open condition for use by Greater Prairie Chickens.